He Went to Harvard
When Donald Trump introduced Jared Kushner to the world as his “Senior Advisor”, he mentioned only one qualification. “Jared is smart. He went to Harvard.” Apparently, a Harvard degree supersedes years of experience in domestic or foreign policy.
Lots of high school seniors decided to join Jared on the Express Elevator To The Top by applying to Harvard. Alas, there’s only so much space in Cambridge, MA. Harvard’s acceptance rate is about 8%.
On what basis are the lucky 1 in 12 applicants chosen? The Supreme Court decided last month that race could not be a criteria. It’s bad enough that the Democrats placed Black and Hispanic women on the Supreme Court. Why should Harvard resemble America’s racial and gender breakdown? The Court’s logic was that replacing a qualified White applicant with a less-qualified Black or Brown one violates the Constitution’s guarantee of “equal protection”.
The Court had it backwards. Lots of qualified minority applicants are squeezed out by White guys who have other things going for them. Among White students granted admission to Harvard, over 43% are athletes, legacies, those on the dean’s interest list, and children of faculty and staff. Harvard’s Athletic Department covers football, basketball, baseball, soccer, etc. like everyone else. These sports are half minority. Harvard also offers squash, fencing, rowing, and even ballroom dancing among other sports that are not big outside the country club. Those sports are lily White and they help your Harvard application.
“Legacies”, of course, are almost exclusively White. Ivanka, Donald, Jr, Eric, and even Tiffany somehow rode Donnie’s coat tails into Penn. None are intellectual giants. All might have been on the Ballroom Dancing Team in prep school though.
How does one qualify for “The Dean’s Interest List”? This was Jared’s ticket to Harvard Yard. The Dean is always “interested” in big donors. Jared’s Dad donated $1 million to Harvard. Lo and behold, Jared was accepted there.
Lots of deep-pocketed individuals want their kids to be included on The Dean’s Interest List. Harvard’s endowment is a whopping $53 billion (with a b). If the Economics Department can determine an investment strategy that yields a 5% annual return, Harvard will have more than $2 billion (again with a b) to play with each year without touching the endowment’s principal or obtaining any more contributions to it.
What to do with that $2 billion? Assuming there are 4,000 undergrads at Harvard paying $80 K per year, it could offer free tuition, room & board for all. That would only consume $320 million of the $2 billion.
That won’t happen. Harvard will continue to admit Jared Kushner and to reject applicants who might make its class photograph resemble the rest of America.
By Ed Dufton
